It’s been a long road for one of country music’s most battle-tested bands. Since returning from a three-year hiatus in 2022, the Turnpike Troubadours have enjoyed some much-belated acclaim as one of the seminal acts that launched the independent renaissance that country music is currently enjoying. While they were gone, another small-town Oklahoman picked up the mantel for this largely unsung sub-sect of music, often known colloquially as the “red dirt scene.” In his artistry and public speech, Zach Bryan alerted millions of young fans to his reverence for Turnpike and Evan Felker. Even though the band wasn’t touring or making music, their star rose quickly as a key influence for one of the format’s most significant new acts. Like Eric Church to Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs, the Turnpike Troubadours cemented their status as living legends early by their sheer impact on their contemporaries.
As the 2020s wore on, other surging acts like Wyatt Flores and Muscadine Bloodline credited our boys from Talequah as a formative part of their artistry. Country music was shifting, and when Turnpike made their grand return at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it was to a hero’s welcome from a new generation of grateful fans. From then on, and especially in the Midwest, they were a legit arena-level concert draw.
With renewed interest and zest for their craft, the band’s next album absolutely needed to pay off the hype. The Turnpike Troubadours had a new lease on life, and after six years without a new release of any kind, their die-hard fans were more than ready. The payoff for this lengthy suspense was 2023’s A Cat In the Rain. To call it a bit unsatisfying is probably fair. Before the hiatus, Evan Felker and his cohorts had ridden a four-album streak of legendary music. From Diamonds & Gasoline to A Long Way From Your Heart, every album was stacked with instant classics and maintained the enigmatic Turnpike mythos with unique characters, emotional balladry, and some of the best overall musicianship on this side of the Arkansas River.
To its credit, A Cat In the Rain still had some vintage Turnpike charm. Evan Felker’s songwriting was characteristically magical; he reconciled with his past mistakes and seemed to turn the page on his life story in a positive way; throughout most of Turnpike’s discography, it’s never very clear if he’s writing from his own experience or not. However, on songs like “Chipping Mill” and the title track, it was clear that he, Evan, had a few things to get off his chest.
As cool as it was to hear from one of country music’s seminal songwriting voices again, A Cat In the Rain had a lot working against it. For one thing, it was fairly devoid of catchy hooks in the vein of “The Bird Hunters” or “Down Here;” in conjunction, new producer Shooter Jennings didn’t have a great feel for the band’s sound. Far too much of the record felt flat and lacking movement, and fiddle player Kyle Nix and guitarist Ryan Engleman were scarcely given the chance to flex their talents, with nary a memorable fiddle or guitar riff to speak of.
In sum, the album had some good ideas but was painfully mid-tempo and even-keeled most of the time. At this point in the band’s life cycle, it felt like they had gone on hiatus as a contemporary millennial band and returned as a wisened legacy act whose best records were probably behind them. Sure, the band was cemented as legends, but their signature spark of originality wasn’t quite there on this record.
Enter: the Turnpike Troubadours’ surprise sixth LP, The Price of Admission. At this stage in their career and coming off of A Cat In the Rain, the band had no big expectations on this project. Still, for many fans, it could be the jolt of electricity that propels Turnpike back into the center of the indie-country conversation.
The Price of Admission finds Evan with a fresh zeal for poetry and songs about ideas bigger than himself. This record doesn’t just experience life but muses on it as well. His trademark story-songs are still here, but the biggest lyrical takeaway is his wistful, almost forlorn outlook on life. The album’s opener and quasi-title track, “On the Red River,” best represents this quality; Evan pays tribute to his late father, and with a sad smile, he ponders the idea that in the memories they made, he still has the best parts of him there with him.
Even though this might be a conceptually deeper album than A Cat In the Rain, it still feels much more accessible with a smattering of tempo moments such as “Devil Plies His Trade” and “Ruby Ann.” Shooter Jennings seems to have found his footing with the band’s sound; together, they pursue a twangier, telecaster-led side of their sound that leans more toward Cody Jinks than Jason Isbell on the country/rock spectrum.
There are songs here that feel complete enough to stand up with the best of the band’s discography, the main attraction being the nostalgic “Heaven Passing Through.” Once again, Felker treasures the little moments that have hallmarked his life and urges the Turnpike faithful to appreciate life’s little bumps for the memories they’ll become later in life. From top to bottom, this cut represents the best that Evan Felker has to offer as both a singer and songwriter, and the whole package goes down with the dewy-eyed longing of the band’s greatest songs, calling to mind gems like “Old Time Feeling (Like Before)” and “Wrecked.”
In terms of the creative risks it takes, especially from a production standpoint, The Price of Admission is still by no means a perfect record. We’re still missing any true riffage by the band’s lead instrumentalists, and there aren’t very many songs here that necessarily grab you from the first note. It would be cool to get another true barn-burner like “The Mercury” or “Smoke, Gin, Lies,” but this record mostly leans on soulful contemplations on life and some spirited storytelling here and there. The mid-tempo smoothness of this record blurs its songs together a bit and detached from Evan Felker’s superb songwriting, they may be too cohesive. However, Turnpike is never without their secret weapon, and even amidst some of the slower blues-driven moments that feel a bit unbecoming, it’s hard as a listener to be truly bored.
Wrapping up, the most important question when discussing this record is this: should fans of the Oklahoman five-piece outfit be satisfied? After a few full listens, it’s extremely gratifying as a fan to know that the answer is a hearty “yes.” With excellent stand-alone singles with the potential to go down in history with the band’s best, a fresh perspective on life, and a fresh new sound, The Price of Admission is head and shoulders above A Cat In the Rain in just about every way. Crucially, we’re all reminded that the Turnpike Troubadours are not content to profit off past glory and still have a few new classics yet up their sleeve.
